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Alia refutes claims of funding protest against Benue CJ

Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has distanced himself from the protest held against the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Maurice Ikpembese, for relocating the Benue Local Government Election Petitions Tribunal from Benue to Abuja.
Hundreds of demonstrators from Benue State took to the streets of Abuja on Monday, for a peaceful protest from the National Assembly to the Supreme Court to express their outrage over the Benue CJ’s decision.
Justice Ikpembese had on March 5 ordered the relocation of the Benue Local Government Election Petitions Tribunal from Benue to Abuja, citing safety concerns.
The tribunal is currently handling disputes arising from the Benue State Local Government elections conducted on October 5, 2024.
Reports indicate that 93 petitioners, including aggrieved candidates from both the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party, have filed cases at the tribunal since October 17, 2024.
The Benue State Government, through the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and Public Order, Mr. Fidelis Mnyim, had questioned the CJ’s unilateral decision, noting that neither the governor nor his office had been formally notified.
But in an interview with The PUNCH on Monday, Governor Alia’s Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo, distanced his principal from the protest against the CJ.
Tersoo said, “How can the government sponsor a protest when people listen to the news and read papers and they are enlightened and might have seen how court cases turned political?
“The government stands to gain nothing in sponsoring a protest; rather it is focused on channeling resources to infrastructural development in the state.
“It’s unfortunate that the state Chief Judge has to go public, that he selected tough people to sit on election petition tribunal.”
Also speaking with The PUNCH, the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Makurdi branch, Terna Yaji, lamented how the tribunal case had been politicised.
Yaji decried the conflicting orders by the Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi and the High Court in Abuja stating that such orders had created uncertainty.
“The Federal High Court in Makurdi and High Court in Abuja judicial division are giving conflicting orders, and in this cas,e there is uncertainty. But the latest order should take pre-eminence.
“It is unfortunate that the court case has become a political case and this is what we have been saying that we should not allow politicians to interfere in court cases.”
The political tension comes in the wake of an earlier attempt by the Benue State Government to remove the CJ over allegations of misconduct and corruption.
The Benue State House of Assembly, acting on a petition from Governor Alia, had recommended Justice Ikpembese’s removal, a move that was resisted by the National Judicial Council and the NBA.
On Monday, scores of placard-bearing protesters, condemned the CJ’s action, relocating the tribunal from Benue to the NBA secretariat in Abuja.
Addressing journalists during the protest, the convener of the group, Igwe Ude-Umanta, faulted the Benue CJ for unilaterally granting a waiver to petitioners of the Local Government Election Tribunal, violating the constitutional requirement for a security deposit.
Ude-Umanta also blamed Justice M.M. Adamu of the FCT High Court 34 for issuing an order compelling the tribunal to sit in Abuja, despite a previous court order restraining the tribunal from sitting outside Benue State.
The protesters called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, to intervene urgently in the crisis and expunge corrupt judges from the Nigerian judiciary.
They also urged President Bola Tinubu to take immediate action to address the crisis and ensure that justice is served.
“Today, we are here as concerned Nigerians who believe in the rule of law. Our democracy is in clear danger, and the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, must save it.
“We are here today to submit a petition against Justice Maurice Ikpembese and Justice M. M. Adamu, who, by their actions, have converted the title of Justice to injustice. It behooves the Chief Justice of Nigeria to expunge corrupt judges from the judiciary to restore its integrity.
“We also call on President Bola Tinubu not to fold his arm and watch the judiciary go down. The Benue situation is the worst at the moment because the petitioners did not even participate in any of the process of the election.”
Recall that the Chief Judge of Benue State, Justice Maurice Ikpembese, had earlier ordered the relocation of the tribunal from Makurdi to Nigeria Bar Association House, Abuja due to insecurity.
But the sitting of the panel, which should have started in Abuja on March 10, was put on hold due to a restraining order by a Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi.
The court directed that the election petition tribunal should hold in Benue State, against Justice Ikpembese’s ruling.
However, the ruling All Progressives Congress approached the FCT High Court in Abuja with a prayer that the panel be relocated to Abuja as earlier ordered by the Benue Chief Judge.
Granting the prayer on Friday, Justice Adamu directed the tribunal to continue to conduct its sitting at the NBA House in Abuja.
The court also restrained the tribunal from sitting in Benue State.
News
Galadima knocks Jandor’s return, says SDP is APC’s branch

By Francesca Hangeior
A chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, Buba Galadima, has described the Social Democratic Party as a faction of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Speaking on The Morning Show on Arise Television on Tuesday, Galadima claimed that the SDP was merely an extension of the APC, questioning the party’s independence.
“The SDP is a branch of the APC. It was those APC people that moved to what you now call SDP. How many people from other parties have moved to the SDP?
“That is the question the people or the media should ask. It is not out of place. You are in Lagos, this is the character of Lagos; to decimate opposition,” Galadima said.
His remarks come amid the recent defection of former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, from the APC to the SDP.
El-Rufai has been mobilising politicians to join the party in a bid to challenge President Bola Tinubu in 2027.
Galadima also criticised opposition politicians who rejoined the APC after contesting elections.
He cited the case of former Lagos PDP governorship candidate, Abdul-Azeez Adediran, known as Jandor, who returned to the APC on Monday, citing internal crises in the PDP.
“Look at what Jandor has done. Look at the support the people of Lagos have given Jandor. In fact, I will say that he won the election. It was taken away from him.
“But look at him, he just backpedalled and went back to the APC. How are we going to do opposition? We should do opposition of principles, even if you’re alone, you should stand on your own principles,” Galadima stated.
He, however, insisted that the NNPP would not enter coalitions just to gain power.
He said, “We are a party of ideology. We are a party of principle. We don’t just go into a coalition for the sake of it because we want power at all costs.
“We are content with the platform we have. One day, we can grow this party and win the national election.”
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China, Cambodia hail Trump’s decision to defund US-funded media

By Francesca Hangeior
Beijing on Tuesday said media outlets facing the axe by US President Donald Trump had a “notorious” history of reporting on China, as Cambodia’s autocratic former leader hailed the move for “combating fake news”.
Trump signed an order last week freezing Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other outlets as part of his sweeping cuts to Federal Government spending.
RFA was created to provide reporting to China, North Korea and other countries in the region with heavily restricted press.
It has reported extensively in recent years on issues highly sensitive to Beijing authorities and other autocratic leaders in Asia.
Asked about Trump’s decision during a daily news briefing, China’s foreign ministry said it did not comment on domestic policies of the US government.
But, said spokeswoman Mao Ning: “I think it is no secret that some of the US media you mentioned have a notorious track record in reporting on China.”
In an editorial, state-backed nationalist tabloid Global Times went further — describing Voice of America as a “lie factory”.
“The so-called beacon of freedom, VOA, has now been discarded by its own government like a dirty rag,” it said.
“The demonising narratives propagated by VOA will ultimately become a laughingstock of the times,” it added.
China has frequently criticised Western media reporting on the country as “biased” and it heavily restricts the operations of domestic news outlets.
Thorny topics covered by RFA and its fellow outlets included China’s alleged large-scale human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in the regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as the crackdown on democratic activists in Hong Kong.
Notably, Radio Free Asia’s reporting is published in a wide range of languages spoken in China, including Tibetan and Uyghur as well as Mandarin and Cantonese.
Related news stories are heavily censored in China’s domestic media environment — and foreign reports on the subjects are blocked online.
The outlets had also long been critical of the influential former leader of Cambodia Hun Sen.
He welcomed the move to cut their funding, praising Trump for “his courage to lead the world in combating fake news, starting with news outlets funded by the US government”.
Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia with an iron fist for nearly four decades and shut down multiple independent media outlets, has been the subject of critical reporting by VOA and Radio Free Asia.
In 2020, Beijing ordered several US media outlets — including VOA — to declare in writing their staff, finances, operations and real estate in China.
The decree was part of a media row between Washington and Beijing that saw more than a dozen journalists working for US media expelled from China.
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No strong opponent in Anambra governorship election – Soludo

By Francesca Hangeior
Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has dismissed any serious competition ahead of the November 8, 2025, governorship election in the state.
Soludo declared that he had not seen any worthy challenger.
He said there is a general agreement among Anambra people that his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, has delivered good governance and deserves another term.
He stated this during a media chat marking his third year in office on Monday.
Soludo noted that while Anambra voters may back different parties in national elections, they remain loyal to APGA when it comes to governorship and local government polls.
“If there is an election, I mean there will be an election, and if I am a candidate, I will be on the ballot, and then I ask: who else is running?
“Which party is fielding a candidate? So far, unless the person will come down from somewhere, I have not heard of any,” he said.
Soludo acknowledged that people have urged him to seek a second term, but the final decision rests with his party.
“The party has to agree to it and give me the platform. For me, I applied for this job intentionally because I felt that’s my way of thanking God for His bountiful blessing—to spend the rest of my life serving and leaving this place better than I met it.
“If my party nominates me and if my employers, who are the Anambra people, graciously renew the tenure, of course, it’s a great honour and a great privilege to serve,” he added.
Anambra is among eight states where governorship elections are held off-season due to court rulings.
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